I have always owned Technics decks, some call me lucky, I just think I started at the right place and never really needed to upgrade. I followed the progression up from my first set of 1200mkII’s, never really being impressed with the minor changes made in each model advancement. This was true, at least until I picked up my shiny new 1210m5gs.

First impression out of the box, they just look better. Then you plug them in, connect them up, and the real fun starts. The blue pop up work light (which is now insanely bright), blue pitch slider markings and the gloss-sparkle top deck look amazing (especially at night). Sure, those are only cosmetic changes, and add no real functionality, but I am getting to that.

The only real changes in the 1210m5g that any dj will care about is the digital pitch control with switchable pitch range (a first for Technics analog decks), and the upgraded tonearm/tonearm suspension.

The upgraded pitch slider is now digitally controlled, but you won’t notice anything different except for the button which changes the +/- range from +/-8 to +/-16. I really don’t find myself using the extended range much spinning hip-hop, but breaks and EDM dj’s will likely find some convenience there. As an added bonus, Technics added the sweet little feature there also where the displayed pitch range changes corresponding with the range selector switch. When I first started using the decks there was a small difference in the sound when pitching up and down a live track, but this disappeared after the decks were broken in. So far, no gripes.